Hansalpur gears up to reap benefits of Suzuki's new plant

Nisaar Malik is a happy man. His income has trebled in about a year's time. Malik works as a guard at the labour colony right off the road from the main gate of Suzuki Motor Gujarat Private Ltd's (SMGPL's) upcoming Rs 8,000 -crore plant here, 110 km from Ahmedabad. He is drawing a monthly salary of Rs 9,000, much higher than the Rs 3,000 he was earning at a mobile phone shop at Bahucharaji town, around two km from here.

Malik is hopeful that one day he will get work at the plant after it becomes operational by 2017. "My job (as guard) here is till 2017, by when the plant should be up and running. Let's see what the future holds for me perhaps, I could work at the plant," he says in an optimistic tone. Around 1,800 workers employed by Shapoorji Pallonji, which is building the plant, are working round the clock. They claim work extends till late into the night and sometimes till 1 or 2 am in the morning.

The 640-acre site already has foundations for the mother plant and other shops with towering steel structures to hold the sheds and roofs. Work is brisk, be it inside the plant or the road outside or the entire 30 km stretch from Mehsana town to here. Bridges over railway crossings and drainage and rainwater pipelines are coming up. Sources in the district administration indicate a 5-10 km stretch that will pass through Bahucharaji and the plants of SMGPL and Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI) will be made of roller compacted concrete.

"Several locals have found work in these projects, some have even come all the way from Godhra (a north Gujarat town)," says Dattubhai, a farmer at Hansalpur. He claims local workers employed by the construction companies are being paid Rs 300 per day (women) and Rs 500 per day (men).

Dattubhai himself is an enterprising farmer. He has put a portion of his farm near the plant on rent for shops and is earning Rs 5,000 per shop, amounting to Rs 40,000 a month. The shops sell essentials to workers at the site. Land prices have soared from Rs 5 lakh a bigha about three years ago to Rs 30 lakh a bigha for plots close to the road. Landowners are making quick money by selling land, says Dattubhai.

A makeshift autorickshaw stand has come up near the labour colony. "Sundays are the busiest days for us. That's when the workers go out to buy things and also catch a movie in the nearby town," says Rameshbhai, an autorickshaw driver from Bahucharaji.

House rents at Bahucharaji have predictably shot up. "A two-bedroom-hall-kitchen flat might go for as much as Rs 8,000 per month in rent, while smaller ones are available for Rs 5,000. A year ago, people were renting out their apartments for Rs 1,500 a month," says Dattubhai.

So the plant has definitely turned things around for locals, who, however, seem to want more. Most want jobs at the plant, while they all seem to agree that they are not qualified or skilled enough for jobs at an engineering enterprise.

Jayesh, who sells tea near the site during his off-days, studies at the nearby Industrial Training Institute (ITI). "I will finish my course next year and get a job at the Maruti Suzuki plant," he says. Maruti Suzuki has adopted several ITIs nearby, to ensure locals get jobs.

Hansalpur is set to change, too. At least three industrial park projects are coming up nearby and real estate players have advertised residential projects at Mehsana and other towns.

Some low-cost housing projects are coming up at Visat, about 40 km from here. The 30 km stretch from Mehsana is dotted with fuel stations, most of these new, commercial complexes and plotted development.

Maruti Suzuki won a vote on Thursday to hand over its upcoming factory in Gujarat to its Japanese parent Suzuki Motor Corporation.

The first phase of the project at Hansalpur will come up at a cost of Rs 3,000 crore and has a planned capacity of 250,000 cars. It is scheduled to go onstream in May 2017, however, sources claim the plant may become operational a few months early.

The capacity of the first assembly line at Hansalpur is 1,50,000 cars. The total capacity at the site will eventually be 750,000 cars per annum. The Gujarat plant will supply vehicles exclusively to Maruti Suzuki.

The company also has a second site near Hansalpur, at Vithlapur, where the company plans to set up production facilities once it exhausts capacity at the first site. Maruti Suzuki's total installed capacity in Gujarat will be 1.5 million cars, equal to its capacity in the plants at Gurgaon and Manesar.